The Community Library was how PRAYOG took its form in the village of Bania Chapar. Before the idea of PRAYOG took birth, Surya had a discussion with 6 high school children. He was pleasantly surprised at their replies. When Alok aspired to be a model, Akash wanted to be a Physicist and join a university as a Professor. These were the aspirations of the two rural youth of Bihar - a 180° from our stereotypes. To realise these dreams, they wanted a library to read extensively and to charter their own desired course in life.
An almirah filled with books was placed in the community space of the village as suggested by the villagers. The responsibility to safeguard the books was given to the kids. The kids took the onus on themselves and made sure that the books did not go missing.
Even after 3 years of its inception, the library is still erect at the exact spot and continues to see the footfall of children to this day. It houses an interesting mix of books across various genres of fairy tales, mythology, biographies, inspirational stories, Gandhi collection, Amar Chitr Katha, general knowledge and IQ, sciences, languages, atlases, dictionaries, periodicals and daily newspapers. The concept of the our community library was also covered in the First India Public Library Conference held at New Delhi in March 2015, organized by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) in association with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).
First day of the Community Library on June 15th, 2013
Students reading the books from the Community Library
Community Library
The Community Library was how PRAYOG took its form in the village of Bania Chapar. Before the idea of PRAYOG took birth, Surya had a discussion with 6 high school children. He was pleasantly surprised at their replies. When Alok aspired to be a model, Akash wanted to be a Physicist and join a university as a Professor. These were the aspirations of the two rural youth of Bihar - a 180° from our stereotypes. To realise these dreams, they wanted a library to read extensively and to charter their own desired course in life.
An almirah filled with books was placed in the community space of the village as suggested by the villagers. The responsibility to safeguard the books was given to the kids. The kids took the onus on themselves and made sure that the books did not go missing.
Even after 3 years of its inception, the library is still erect at the exact spot and continues to see the footfall of children to this day. It houses an interesting mix of books across various genres of fairy tales, mythology, biographies, inspirational stories, Gandhi collection, Amar Chitr Katha, general knowledge and IQ, sciences, languages, atlases, dictionaries, periodicals and daily newspapers. The concept of the our community library was also covered in the First India Public Library Conference held at New Delhi in March 2015, organized by Digital Empowerment Foundation (DEF) in association with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF).